ASUS' Tinker Board is an alternative to the Raspberry Pi 3

With its 4K-enabled Tinker Board, ASUS looks set to challenge the dominance of Raspberry Pi 3 in the single-board computer market segment. According to Wired UK, the ASUS Tinker Board shares the same dimensions as the Raspberry Pi 3; they both measure approximately 85mm in length, and 56mm in width. The ASUS Tinker Board’s layout is almost identical to the Raspberry Pi 3; however, there are some stark differences between the two boards.

The Tinker Board is powered by a quad-core, Rockchip processor that is rated to operate at 1.8GHz. It also supports 4K video and 24-bit audio. In comparison, the Raspberry Pi 3 is only capable of supporting up to full HD video playback. The Tinker Board supports Kodi software media center, making it an ideal small footprint, 4K-enabled video players with streaming capabilities. The other specifications of the Tinker Board include a Gigabit LAN connector, wireless connectivity standards comprising 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. It sports 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM, which is twice that of the Raspberry Pi 3.

The listed price of the ASUS Tinker Board is 55 pounds sterling, which is almost RM305. The price difference can be attributed to the higher hardware specifications of the Tinker Board. It remains to be seen if the better-specced single-board computer, which costs twice as much, will be able to knock the reigning rival off its pedestal.